


together we'll sail across the sea

by Kt_fairy



Series: lesbians [3]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Anxiety, Developing Relationship, F/F, Friendship, Idiots in Love, Internalized Homophobia, Meet the Family, Period Typical Attitudes, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-20 23:21:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19386526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kt_fairy/pseuds/Kt_fairy
Summary: Reggie blinked at Joanie’s meaningful look, then sat back against the arm of the sofa. “You want me to meet your family?”“Yes? If you don't want to then I won’t be upset, I know it’s a lot. I just think it would be nice,” Joanie worried her bottom lip when Reggie remained silent. “I mean, you’re meeting her with everyone at the graduation ceremony anyway, so…”“But I’m not everyone, am I?” Reggie said carefully, reaching out for Joanie’s hand when she nodded sharply. “It is a big deal, but they won’t know why that is.”





	together we'll sail across the sea

**Author's Note:**

> Well, here we are again with the lesbeans.  
> I don't really have anything to say here (it's currently too hot to think) but I felt like I should. So Hi

 

 

 

“Reg?”

 

“Yes darling.”

 

“You know my mum and brother are coming down tomorrow for my graduation?”

 

 Reggie looked up from the notepad she had been scratching lyrics on to, letting her eyes trail over Joanie who was curled up at the other end of the sofa with a letter resting on her knees. “Is that from your mum?” Reggie asked, pointing at the letter with her pen.

 

“Yep. She’s just wrote to say that her and Jamie’s train will arrive in the afternoon and wants to take me for dinner.”

 

“I’d say a first class honours degree deserves a free dinner,” Reggie agreed, reached out to give Joanie’s leg a squeeze.

 

 Joanie gave her a bashful smile as she tried to take the compliment. “Her thoughts exactly. She...she wants to know if I have any ‘starving student friends’ who'd like to come to dinner?”

 

 Reggie blinked at Joanie’s meaningful look, then sat back against the arm of the sofa. “You want me to meet your family?”

 

“Yes? If you don't want to then I won’t be upset, I know it’s a lot. I just think it would be nice,” Joanie worried her bottom lip when Reggie remained silent. “I mean, you’re meeting her with everyone at the graduation ceremony anyway, so…”

 

“But I’m not everyone, am I?” Reggie said carefully, reaching out for Joanie’s hand when she nodded sharply. “It is a big deal, but they won’t know why that is. They...That’s why I’m hesitating.”

 

  Joanie ran her thumb over Reggie’s knuckles, then held her hand tighter. “I know I can’t tell her the truth, but I don’t think its a lie to say you’re my best friend. Someone who I’d want her to know even if I wasn’t in love with you.”

 

“Oh you!” Reggie grinned, pitching forward to smack a kiss to Joanie’s knee. “Okay then. Not like I can say no to free food!”

 

"I thought that'd get you," Joanie grinned, cupping Reggie's face as she gave her a gentle kiss. “I’ll pop to the phone box to call and let her know I got her letter. And that I’m bringing you, if that’s okay?”

 

“Of course.”

 

 Reggie leant in to two more soft kisses before Joanie climbed off the sofa. She watched her dig some pennies out of the change jar, and shot her a smile as she toed into Reggie’s trainers and slipped out of the front door.

 

 Once the door clicked closed Reggie pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes until she saw swirling shapes, then tipped her head back against the sofa with a groan.

 

 This - meeting Joanie’s family - was a gesture of trust and commitment, Reggie knew that, and that was why she wanted to meet them. She wanted to put names to faces and to start becoming a part of Joanie’s life that existed outside of the bubble of London and music and university. Outside of Reggie’s life that Joanie had so easily fit in to. What she didn't want was to be the reason that Joanie’s mum looked at her with disappointment or exasperation, or any of the things that Reggie saw in her own mother’s eyes.

 

 Her mum had always despaired a little at Reggie being _‘a bit of a tom boy’_ , but had accepted it with her usual grace and a few, “don’t worry you’ll grow out of it” affirmations that were more for her benefit than Reggie’s. Then Karen had come down to Cornwall for a couple of weeks one summer, and even though they weren’t together - had never been together - her mum had this reticence about her for the whole visit.

 

 At the time Reggie had thought it was just because Karen was _Karen_ , in all her bohemian, boldly modern, unladylike glory, but it was as if seeing Reggie with Karen, and their easy intimacy, had finally shattered any illusions or excuses her mother had made to herself about her daughter. She had never said a word to Reggie about any of it, and Reggie wished she would. Anything her mum could say to her would not hurt as much as the war of love and disappointment that was sometimes going on in her eyes when she looked at Reggie.

 

 At least Joanie didn’t dress like as much of a dyke as Reggie always had, nor behaved much like what people expected of one. Her mum wouldn’t have the suspicions Reggie’s mother had obviously had for years, would have no reason to suspect the truth of her daughter’s life. At least, Reggie thought as she lit a cigarette, until she saw her with Reggie.

 

 

* ***** *

 

 Before Joanie had moved, in the only time Reggie went to bed with someone else was to either to drunkenly pass out or in a flurry of shedding clothes and wandering hands.

 

 She still did both with Joanie, and quite often, but Reggie also just...went to bed with her. To sleep! They didn’t share a bedtime, they weren’t _that_ much of an old married couple yet, but more often than not Reggie found herself perched on the side of the bed stealing Joanie's moisturiser while watching her braid her hair for bed. Sometimes Reggie would stand behind Joanie and carefully brush out her long hair before she plaited it, and sometimes Reggie would manage to do it all without showering Joanie’s neck with kisses.

 

 Tonight Reggie wasn't paying attention to Joanie’s long fingers twisting through her hair. Her gaze was on the rail of Joanie's clothes set next to the listing wardrobe, looking over the smooth colours and gentle patterns.

 

“Do you think I could fit in one of your dresses for tomorrow?”

 

 Joanie glanced over her shoulder, then over at the wardrobe. “Just wear your own clothes, they're nice!”

 

“I want to make a good impression.”

 

 Joanie finished with her hair and came to sit next to Reggie, taking her hand in both of hers. “You are going to be in my life for a while, I hope, and you can’t keep dressing up like someone you're not every time you meet her.”

 

 Reggie lent her head against Joanie's shoulder with a put upon sigh. “She’ll take one look at me and know I’m a dyke. Mums are like that.”

 

“I won’t have you hide yourself, Reg," Joanie said gently as she pushed Reggie's hair from her face. "Not for anything, and certainly not for me.”

 

“I can’t rightly walk in declaring ‘I love pussy’, can I?”

 

“I hope not, we might get kicked out of the restaurant.” Joanie said, a smile pulling at her mouth. “I didn’t realise that pussy was the whole of your sparkling personality?”

 

“It feels like that’s all I am when people know,” she bit her lip, looking down at her hand that she had resting on Joanie’s knee. “And sometimes after I’ve eaten you out.”

 

“Flirt!”

 

“I can’t help _that_...It gives me something to think about that isn’t all these nerves I hardly ever get.”

 

“You are charming and warm, and she won’t give a shit about how you’re dressed. She’s just be glad I’m bringing a friend." Joanie kissed her shoulder. "What we have to worry about is when she gets into a flap in two years time about me not having a boyfriend.”

 

“Where _are_ our boyfriends?” Reggie huffed, taking an exaggerated look around their bedroom.

 

“Right? Urgh, men.”

 

 Reggie turned to face Joanie, tracing her fingers down the length of the plait that was laying over her shoulder. “I like it when you have your hair like this,” she muttered, letting her fingers trail from the end of the plait to smooth over the swell of Joanie’s tit's.

 

“I think it makes me look like I have a baby face.”

 

“I love your soft little face,” Reggie murmured, leaning in to softly kiss her cheek as she moved her hand up from Joanie's knee to rest on her bare thigh. “I love this nightie too,” she said with obvious brightness as she rubbed the paisley printed fabric between her fingers.

 

“You just like that I have nothing on under it."

 

"I like the feel of it and I like the print. And I _especially_ like the cut," Reggie said as she cupped Joanie’s breast though her nightie, smoothing her thumb over the peak of her nipple.

 

 Joanie considered her a moment before pushing her hand under Reggie's T-shirt to press against her stomach. She bumped her nose against Reggie’s, easing her into an open mouthed kiss as she smoothed her hand down to slip into Reggie’s underwear.

 

 Reggie sighed into Joanie’s mouth when she stroked lazily over her, pulling back to gasp when Joanie’s fingers slipped between the folds of her labia to rub lightly over her clit.

 

“That’s just another way of saying you like that I have no underwear on.”

 

“You got me,” Reggie’s breath hitched, letting her legs fall open to given Joanie more room to run her fingers from her clit to dip into her and then back again, teasing again and again and again before crooking her fingers into her.

 

 Reggie sighed, swaying backwards so she could take in the way Joanie’s arm was pushing her tit’s together as she reached across herself to finger Reggie, before swaying back into her. She took Joanie’s face in her hands and kissed her, letting every gasp and shudder be breathed into her open mouth as Joanie’s fucking amazing fingers hit that spot inside her as she rubbed her slick thumb over Reggie's clit.

 

 Reggie tipped her head back and moaned, almost choking on it when Joanie's teeth scraped over one of Reggie's nipples through the thin material of her t-shirt. She looked down at her, whining at the flash of wet tongue she could see pressing against the bump of her nipple. She rested her hand on the back of Joanie head, not pulling her in closer but just holding her, letting it drop to the back of Joanie's neck when she moved to kiss over the base of Reggie's throat.

 

 She grabbed onto Joanie’s shoulder when she felt warmth gather low in her gut, then Joanie’s elbow to encourage her to fuck her harder, then her leg. She felt Joanie smile against her neck when she squeezed Joanie’s thigh, and the next thing she knew she was cumming. Reggie bit her wrist to stop herself crying out, digging her blunt nails into Joanie’s thigh as a shudder ripped through her, leg’s jerking. “Don’t you fucking stop,” she growled against her own skin, letting Joanie tangle her fingers into her hair and give her a sloppy kiss as she made Reggie cum again and again.

 

 Reggie clenched her legs together after she finally pushed Joanie’s hand away, heaving in two great breaths before her whole attention was drawn to Joanie undoing the tiny button’s that ran down from the curving neckline of her nightie. They only went half way down her chest, but opened her nightie enough for Reggie to get at her tits.

 

 She wrapped her hands around Joanie’s waist and dragged her closer, pushing the soft material aside so she could pepper kisses over Joanie’s chest and worry at her nipples with her teeth. Reggie pressed her face to the curve of Joanie’s breast, supporting the weight of them in the palms of her hands, and sighed a quiet, “I want…” against Joanie’s skin before sitting back. She looked at the flush on Joanie’s cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes, and at the way her nightie had rucked up around the top of her thighs, and kissed her, giving her waist a squeeze before slipping off the bed to drop onto the floor in front of her.

 

 Reggie was so intent on easing Joanie’s legs open that she barely noticed her leaning back to grab a pillow for Reggie to kneel on instead of the thin carpet. Reggie took it from her and slipped it under her knees as she pushed Joanie’s nightie up just enough for it to not be in the way, brushing her fingertips over the red marks her nails had pressed into the inside of Joanie’s leg before pressing kisses to each one. She trailed her lips down to the junction of Joanie’s thighs, sucking lightly on the fading mark that she had left there a couple of days ago before swirling her tongue over Joanie’s pussy.

 

 Reggie held Joanie open with her thumbs as she flicked the end of her tongue over all the lines and curves of her labia, before kissing her clit. Joanie let out a breathless sound as she picked her leg up to rest her heel on Reggie’s shoulder, laying her hand on the back of Reggie’s head as she followed the path her tongue had just taken with sucking kisses. She dipped the tip of her tongue into Joanie before pulling back, letting her warm breath brush over Joanie’s pussy just to feel Joanie’s thighs tense on either side of her head.

 

 Joanie gasped when Reggie slipped her fingers into her, tangling her own into Reggie’s hair and giving her head an encouraging tug into her pussy. Reggie laughed softly as she ran a line of teasing licks up to her clit that she sucked on lightly before swirling her tongue over it.

 

“Oh _god_ ,” Joanie moaned when she flopped back onto the bed, tilting her hips into Reggie’s fingers that were twisting into her.

 

 Reggie ended up having to lay her arm over Joanie’s hips to keep them still while she alternated between sucking on her clit and flicking her tongue over it. She fucked her fingers into Joanie hard and fast and then rocked them into her almost lazily before picking up the pace again until Joanie let out a muffled cry, whole body jerking.

 

 She only pulled her fingers out of Joanie when she pushed at Reggie’s shoulder with her heel, but she stayed with her face nestled between Joanie’s legs, lapping up all the slick mess from her thighs. She smacked a kiss to Joanie’s hipbone when she finally pulled herself away from her pussy, dragging herself up onto the bed to give her slow, sleepy kiss.  

 

“You need to wipe your face,” Joanie panted, pushing Reggie’s hair behind her ears.

 

“I do like to make a mess,” Reggie grinned, walking her fingers up the inside of Joanie’s thigh. “And you do look so nice when you’re a little messy.”

 

“You,” Joanie said as she caught Reggie’s hand and held it between them, “have my permission to spend all night messing me up as much as you like _after_ I’ve finished running around graduating...I need to sleep.”

 

“Of course,” Reggie whispered, squeezing Joanie’s hips before scooting back off the bed, “I love you, my genius.”

 

 She went to slip off to the bathroom but pulled up short when Joanie sat up and caught her wrist. “You’re smart too, Reggie. Don’t...you’re no less smart than me.”

 

“I know. And I also know I’m not very academic either. Don’t worry about it,” she whispered, dropping a kiss to Joanie’s hair. “I’m very proud of you and everything you’ve put into this degree,” she kissed her hair again, “and everything you’ve put up with.”

 

 Joanie gave her the sweetest smile, and kissed the gentle swell of Reggie’s bicep. “I love you too,” she whispered, the smile not leaving her face as she let Reggie’s hand slip from her grip.

 

 

 * ***** *

 

 Reggie was glad to step out onto the street. She pressed the backs of her hands to her flushed cheeks as she took a deep breath of air that was only slightly less stuffy than it had been in the restaurant, then gave her head a shake to fluff up her hair.

 

 Dinner had gone much better than Reggie had hoped it would. Joanie looked lovely with her hair curling around her faintly freckled shoulders and the sunflowers on her soft linen dress deepening her faint tan to a shade that made her pale eyes sparkle. She looked so lovely, in fact, that Reggie had become paranoid about being caught staring and had safely, and obsessively, kept her eyes and her hands to herself for the whole two hours.

 

 It helped that Joanie’s family were very easy to get on with. Her brother, James, was as quiet and polite as Joanie, and also had her tendency for bouts of giggles. Her mum, Molly, was the kind of bubbly that had grown to fill the silence of her children, but it was genuine so didn’t grate like it could have. She was lovely, and seemed very pleased with Reggie who turned her charm up to the max and slipped into her sensible Prep-school accent. Molly had even complimented her on the butterflies on her trousers (she was wearing her stage pair because they were the best she owned) and from the look on Joanie’s face that seemed to mean that Reggie had been given a seal of approval.

 

 After that Reggie had stopped nervously sweating through the blouse that Freddie had come over to help her pick out while Joanie looked on bemused (“did you put this much effort in when you took me out on dates?” Joanie had asked, which drew a great sigh from Freddie. “My dear we carefully curated each button this bitch had undone and the exact tousle of her hair. It’s an _Art_ to look this effortless.”) and had even started to enjoy herself. Reggie did love  _talking_ to people, and especially new people who were full of new opinions and views for her to think about. 

 

“You got quite hot in there, didn't you Regina?”

 

"Oh yes, it was rather stuffy.

 

"Cigarette smoke in warm rooms does tend gets rather stiflin’. And I find that openin' a window just pushes it ‘round more," Molly said as she came to stand next to Reggie who was doing her best to ignore the pointed look Joanie was giving her.

 

"Yes, it does tend to. But the food was very nice, thank you."

 

"Oh, don't mention it. Not every mother gets to see her daughter do so well," she smiled proudly at Joanie, and Reggie swallowed when she realised that Molly had corralled her into walking down the street next to her.

 

"So, now Joan has graduated are your band going on any other tours?"

 

"We might do a trip around the country, we'll see how recording the album goes," Reggie said, side stepping around the fact that the album had already been recorded while Joanie was doing her end of year exams.

 

"I said to our Joan that I'll go and buy a couple of the records when it comes out, so you'll have some mum sales at least," she laughed, patting Reggie on the arm. "It must be hard for your band-mates to be away from their girlfriends though, with the recording and the travellin'."

 

"I imagine so," Reggie shrugged. "But they do share a room so they can commiserate with one another,” Reggie paused, then dared to say. “Joanie and I have lots of fun sharing a room too."

 

"I was very relieved to ‘ear that you share, because you hear all _sorts_ of things about rock and roll bands…"

 

"Trust me Molly, the wildest thing we do is spend an evening in the pub."

 

 Reggie knew she had messed up when Molly's head whipped around to look at her. "Our Joan's been in a pub?"

 

"I say pub," Reggie said, aiming desperately for smoothness, "some of the venues we play have bar's in them. Like a dancing club. And we can't rightly perform drunk!" Reggie laughed, hoping that the sudden memories of them splitting a bottle of wine in the back of the van wasn’t showing all over her face.

 

"Good," Molly hummed, then spoke loudly enough that Joanie could definitely hear her. "Because Joan knows my thoughts on public houses."

 

"Joanie hasn’t… We go dancing sometimes, and go to parties, but Joanie isn’t running around pubs and getting drunk and...all the time I’ve known her, she has been nothing but dedicated to university. And also to the band. I don't know how she managed to balance both as well as she has, but she's done very well. I mean, an honours degree _and_ helped us all get a record deal? And that's even with me making her take it easy so she didn't run herself into the ground."

 

"She has always been an ‘ard worker. I encouraged her music just so she'd have something else in her life apart from schooling."

 

"Joanie's got a real ear for music - I was impressed by it right away, in fact. I like to think she's helped us all improve as much as she's improved while with the band. She's really great...did Joanie tell you she built an amp?"

 

"Our Joan's always been building things. She has a talent," Molly said with a fond smile. She shot Reggie a soft look that made her blush when she realised she might have been gushing about Joanie.

 

 She cleared her throat, feeling Joanie's eyes bore into the back of her head as she tried to think of something to say. Luckily that was when Jamie spoke up with a pleading edge to his voice. "Can I _please_ go see Wembley Stadium before we go 'ome?"

 

 Laughter pulled attention away from Reggie, and she fell back to chat to Jamie about football until they reached the Bed and Breakfast Joanie's family were staying in. They said their good-nights after confirming the times of the graduation the next morning, and as they walked back down the road to the bus stop Joanie slipped her arm through Reggie's. “I’m sorry you had to lie to my mum.”

 

“They were only white lies to keep everyone happy,” Reggie murmured.

 

“I think it’s hard for her to let go of the image of me as a timid and anxious girl. She was always worried about me being taken advantage of or being led astray.”

 

“Weeeell…”

 

“Oh shut up. I liked girls before I met you! I just didn’t realise how much I liked them…”

 

“Until you met me,” Reggie grinned.

 

 Joanie rolled her eyes but didn’t argue further, and they fell into a comfortable silence until Joanie squeezed Reggie’s arm with her own. “Those were nice things you said about me.”

 

“It’s all true. But it’s not even half of everything wonderful about you.”

 

 Joanie gave Reggie a slow smile. “I don’t think half the people we know would believe how much of a big soppy romantic you are.”

 

“It’s only ever really come out around you,” Reggie admitted. “I don’t - I never felt comfortable enough to be that vulnerable before.”

 

“Well then,” Joanie held Reggie’s arm tighter as she used the excuse of dodging a lamp post to press against her side. “It’ll be a wonderful thing about you that’ll be just for us.”

 

 

* ***** *

 

 Reggie looked over at Joanie, then down to the little fabric bag in her hand that she began to fiddle with nervously as she looked back to Joanie again.

 

 She had been up early to get ready for her graduation, having washed and dried her hair before Reggie had even forced her eyes open. It was falling in loose, fluffy waves down her back as she sat cross legging in front of the mirror doing her makeup and fighting with Reggie's dressing gown kept slipping off her shoulder. Joanie pulled it up for the fourth time and sighed when it fell right back down again, giving up as she leaned in close to the mirror to do her mascara.

 

 She was going to get her degree, that piece of paper that meant so much not just to her, but to any woman who wanted to succeed in a skill set aside for men, in two hours time. And didn’t seem nervous at all! In fact she was singing away happily under her breath, something only a privileged few got to hear.

 

 Reggie, on the other hand, was stupidly nervous. The dress Joanie was going to wear today - the nicest one she owned - was hung up on the Japonesque screen set in the corner of the bedroom and Reggie touched the skirt of it almost for luck as she went to crouch behind Joanie.

 

“Hello,” Joanie said brightly, catching Reggie’s eye in the mirror as she sorted through their make-up box.

 

“Hold still,” Reggie said softly as she tipped the contents of the little bag - a pair of earrings from Biba, each one made up of three delicate gold plated concentric hoops dangling from a sun shaped stud - into the palm of her hand.

 

 She carefully picked one up and reached over Joanie’s shoulder to put it on her ear. Reggie saw Joanie catch sight of it in the mirror and frown slightly as she turned her head to let Reggie put the other earring on her.

 

“Do you like them?” Reggie asked as she tucked Joanie’s hair behind her ears.

 

“Yes…” she looked at herself in the mirror, then back to Reggie with a raised eyebrow. “Are they for me?"

 

“I picked them up from Biba…”

 

“ _Reggie you didn’t_!” Joanie gasped, twisting to look at her.

 

“I got them in the Christmas sale, don’t worry,” Reggie smiled, pecking Joanie on the cheek as she wrapped her arms around her and pulled her back against her chest. “I knew you’d yell at me about rent if I paid full price.”

 

“I would've,” Joanie smiled.

 

“I got them for today. I know you don’t need stuff or gifts for doing well, but I wanted to give you something. You deserve...I wanted to give them to you to show how proud I am of you, and how much I love you.”

 

“I know Reg. You tell me every day, I _know._ ”

 

“Yes. But I can’t say it as loudly as I’d like, or show it like I want to in public, so I...so I want to show it how I can.”

 

“Oh Reggie,” Joanie sighed, slipping their fingers together as she craned her head back to kiss her cheek. “I love them, thank you.”

 

“You’re welcome,” Reggie beamed as she pecked Joanie on the lips. “When we’re world famous rock stars and we get our first number one, I’ll buy you a diamond bracelet.”

 

“Where would I wear it?”

 

 Reggie shrugged. “Around,” she said then pressed a smile to Joanie’s hair and whispered, “in bed”

 

“Wh - oh,” Joanie blushed. “Well then, when we’re world famous rock stars I’ll buy you…” Joanie pulled a face as she thought about it. “Twenty silver necklaces to wear in bed.”

 

“Is this like I-spy now?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“When we’re world famous rock stars I’ll buy you a whole fucking thing of circuit boards.”

 

“Now that is something I wouldn’t ever say no to,” Joanie said with utter seriousness, then laughed when Reggie rolled her eyes.

 

“And I love you for it,” Reggie murmured, giving Joanie another kiss on the lips before letting her go. She didn’t get up, just moved a little to the side, resting her chin on her drawn up as she watched Joanie finish getting ready, loving the way she fiddled with the waves in her hair so you could see the gold of the earrings peaking through.

 

 

* ***** *

 

“So, which one of these short sighted pricks used to pick on Jo?”

 

“ _I’m_ short sighted!”

 

“Yes, but you’re only occasionally a prick,” Karen sighed, smiling when Veronica barely held in a laugh. “See! Veronica agrees with me.”

 

“I’m not telling you _because Karen_! You are not causing a scene at Joanie’s graduation and she’d not want you to…”

 

“It was that one with the blue suit and that one with the orange tie,” Veronica said, motioning in their direction with her cigarette. “And the one next to the lady in the bright pink. Those are the one’s I can see.”

 

“ _Veronica!”_

 

“Ooh what’s happening? That was Reggie’s scandalised voice!” Freddie said, appearing out of nowhere to peer in the direction Veronica had been pointing.

 

“Ronnie was telling me who the big men were who used to hassle Joanie in her classes.”

 

“Ooh! Who! Who! Do tell!”

 

“Freddie!”

 

“What?”

 

“You know Joanie will hate it. Please…” Reggie pleaded. 

 

“All right,” Freddie sighed, sipping from his third glass of free wine as he gave Karen a conspiratorial look.

 

“You’re not subtle,” Reggie huffed, taking the glass of wine Brian offered her.

 

“They’re just looking out for her. You know they won’t do anything in front of her mum,” Brian said quietly, giving her a pat on the shoulder.

 

“Don’t worry Reg,” Karen reassured, throwing her arm around Reggie’s shoulders. “Just look at us; Bri is the tallest person in London, Freddie’s looks like a drunk Victorian dandy, me and you are intimidatingly sexy, and Veronica’s a fucking red-head! We’re her terrifying bunch of cool mates!”

 

“I wouldn’t go as far as cool,” Brian muttered, laughing when Karen smacked him playfully on the arm.

 

“Speak it into existence - _JOANIE!”_

 

 The woman in question was beaming fit to burst, holding her mortarboard on her head as she strode across the grass towards them, the breeze catching in her graduation gown.

 

 Freddie, after throwing his hands (and what was left of his wine) in the air, ran at Joanie and thankfully didn’t send them both tumbling to the ground, even though Reggie did see Joanie stagger slightly under the force of his impact.  “My darling well done! Well done! You were so marvellous.

 

“All I did was walk up to the Chancellor and get handed a scroll.”

 

“I know! But you did it so wonderfully! The best I have ever seen!”

 

 Freddie only let Joanie go when Karen tried to squeeze between them, the three of them laughing as they all tried to hug one another.

 

 It became a muddle of people hugging Joanie and introducing themselves to her amused mother and little brother who looked equally bemused and intrigued by Brian and Freddie.

 

“So you’re the other two in the band?” he asked, peering between the two of them.

 

“We are,” Brain said, obviously not sure about how to pitch his tone while talking to a fourteen year old. “I play guitar, and this fine fellow sings.”

 

“I think you’ll find that I also play tambourine.”

 

“Oh okay...Joan’s told me a lot about you two.”

 

“And do we live up to expectations?” Freddie asked, not bothering to hide how invested he was in the answer

 

“Definitely,” Jamie said. “You might ‘av even exceed ‘em.” He then shot Reggie a look that was so Joanie she had to swallow down a laugh.

 

 She turned away from them to Joanie who was who was trying to keep the mortarboard on her head while she giggled at something Veronica was saying, opening her arms  as they pulled one another into a hug.

 

 She was glowing. There was a sparkle in her grey eyes and a flush on her cheeks, and her smile was so wide Reggie felt her own grow just from looking at her. She stepped up to them when Veronica gave Joanie a peck on the cheek and moved away to let Reggie sweep Joanie up into her arms.

 

 Joanie finally let the mortarboard fall from her head when Reggie spun her around, her laughter so bright that Reggie almost kissed her.

 

“I knew you’d be the best,” Reggie said quietly as she gently set her back down on her feet. “But I’m still so proud of you.”

 

 Joanie’s laughter died down into a gentle hmm, freeing her arm that was trapped between them so she could give Reggie a proper hug back, “I’d have done it one way or another, but I’m glad I had you to support me. Thank you, I love you.”

 

 Reggie was pressing her face into Joanie’s hair without even thinking about it, whispering, “I love you too,” into her ear as she gave her one final tight squeeze before letting Joanie slip from her arms.

 

 Freddie had picked up Joanie’s mortarboard and was now wearing it (and somehow pulling it off) as his charm lead the conversation going on around them. He was acting up to draw attention away from Joanie and Reggie, she realised with a start, and Reggie immediately glanced over at Joanie’s mum.

 

 No-one’s luck ever held, and parents were not always looking the other way. Reggie felt her heart sink all the way down to her stomach when she saw the look Joanie’s mum was sending her daughter; a mixture of confusion and something else that was dawning so slowly that Reggie could not bare to watch.

 

 She’d given it away- as much as there was anything _to_ give away when you dressed and sounded like Reggie did. Especially when only last night she had gone on and  _on_ about how wonderful Joanie was like the lovesick fool Reggie very much is, only just stopping short of waxing poetic about her eyes and her fucking tits!

 

 From Reggie’s experience most people took fancying girls to be a short lived thing. A girlish dalliance that was soon fixed when you met a man and got married and were once again very good and very straight. It wasn’t the hate and all out violence that gay men suffered, but to be so easily ignored and undermined was it’s own kind of creeping violence. And the fact it was mostly unintentional only made it worse.

 

What had Joanie said - her mum always worried that she was going to be ‘lead astray’? Well _fuck._

 

 Reggie forced her gaze up, joining in the laughter going on around her with a smile she hope didn’t look forced. She rolled her shoulders back and glanced around, not wanting to give anything away. This was going to be a happy memory for Joanie, and Reggie wasn’t going to mar it by looking worried or upset, even if her heart still felt like it was trying to drop out of her stomach.

 

 

* ***** *

 

“I think I’ve fucked up,” Reggie muttered, leaning back against the wall of the stall as she watched a few people wander past.

 

“If you’ve sold my jacket again, I will not be held responsible for my actions!” Freddie said from where he was sat on the floor punching numbers into an old calculator that was held together with tape and divine will.

 

 After her graduation Joanie had gone off the spend the remainder of the day with her parents, and the rest of them had split off to go to work to while away the hours until they hit the pub that evening (and to also earn money to live, but that was beside the point). Not that the stall on Kensington Market was work, really, more of an excuse to chat with people and hang around with Freddie.

 

 It was a quiet afternoon, as most weekdays tended to be, and instead of using those hours to plan their weekend or do the business stuff Joanie had helped them set up, Reggie had been brooding.

 

“No. I think Joanie’s mum worked us out.”

 

“Oh…” Freddie blinked up at Reggie, then shuffled over to sit on his bum at her feet. "That hug did linger, rather."

 

"If it was my mum I wouldn't care. I _don't_ care that she knows. But...family means so much to Joanie."

 

"Molly doesn't seem like the kind of woman to throw her children to the wind over anything, least of all this."

 

"She doesn't even like the thought of her adult daughter going in a _pub_ , Freddie! I think this might cause a bit of a flip out."

 

"Having played pubs in the Midlands, I can safely say that I barely like the idea of _myself_ being in one," Freddie said archly as he pulled Reggie's cigarettes out of her pocket and offered her one. “Let alone Kash.”

 

"Okay true,” Reggie muttered as she lit her cigarette. “But still Freddie, she'll hardly jump for joy."

 

"Maybe so, but I doubt she'd throw a fit either. She handled me perfectly fine."

 

"Yeah," Reggie agreed in a cloud of smoke. "But people like you."

 

"And what do you think they think of you? You're as warm and... oh _bloody hell Regina_. You always lose all common sense around Deaky."

 

"Look…"

 

"You do! I know all about your _moping_ when you were all sad that you fancied her."

 

"Freddie!"

 

"Stop worrying so much! You never worry about anything half as much as you worry about if _Joanie likes the softness of your pillows_ or _if Joanie likes these sunglasses_ or _if Joanie is experiencing an untouchable kind of blissful happiness_!" Freddie gave her a fond sort of exasperated look and squeezed her knee. "It's so sweet that you're so in love, but you cannot wrap her in cotton wool because of it. Her mum might suspect, yes, but she also let her quiet and reserved daughter move down to London, of all hellish places, to take a 'mans degree'. I doubt this'll end in anything worse than the... _stalemate_ you have with your own mother."

 

 Reggie took a deep drag on her cigarette and blew the smoke out through her nose. "Maybe."

 

"She's not going to throw a parade like you're a doctor or a lawyer or a fucking Lord, but sometimes…" Freddie pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, "Regina. I know how far not being outright hated can go. Being tolerated is not ideal, I know, but it's better than _hate_."

 

"Oh shit. Freddie…" Reggie groaned, putting her cigarette out on the bottom of her shoe as she dropped down to sit with him on the floor. 

 

"Oh don't be silly. One of the thing's I like about you, about all of you, is that you don't spend every second of the day very aware that I am brown and you are not."

 

"Why would we?"

 

"Exactly. And yet..."

 

"And yet people can be so shit. They’re so _shit_.”

 

"It’s why I only surround myself with delightful people,” Freddie grinned, putting his hands on Reggie’s arm. “I'm not telling you not to worry, or to take whatever you're given, darling. I would never! Simply take a moment to get some perspective on things. The world is not ideal in any way, at all, but it is better than it was, and we must take the good things where we can find them. And just...don't look for the bad things, just let the good things come to you. Because they do, that’s why I get to sit here on the cold fucking floor with you, darling."

 

"I think you mean _I_ get to sit on the fucking cold floor with _you_."

 

“Well yes of course, but one doesn’t like to be immodest.”

 

“ _Of course_ ,” Reggie mimicked back and she tapped her toes against his.

 

"What I'm trying to say is that Deaky isn't worried about this. She was never worried what her mother might think of you, or how she might react. So don't worry for her, she is more than capable of doing all the worrying for herself and us as well. She obviously doesn't expect a bad reaction, even if it's not sunshine and roses."

 

Reggie nodded slowly, and re-lit her cigarette. "...meeting parents is terrifying, and...and I don't want to be hated for the best thing that's happened to me."

 

"Joanie loving you back?"

 

"Yes."

 

Freddie reached out and gave her arm a squeeze and said nothing else, which was fine. Reggie doubted there was much left to be said. “We’ve sold two things over the past three hours," she said, sitting up straight. "Want to call it a day and pick our outfits out for tonight?”

 

“I’d like nothing more, darling.”

 

 

* ***** *

 

 They were met by Karen's unmistakably loud wolf whistle when they stepped into their local pub that evening, much to Freddie's obvious delight. Reggie lapped it all up too, but she was always happy to see Freddie sparkle under the attention.

 

"It's a Thursday!" Brian, who was still in his suit from this morning, sighed. "Did you have to dress up like it's a big Saturday night?"

 

 Freddie fluffed his hair and declared, "Yes."

 

 Reggie lost the rock-paper-scissors tournament over who got the first round in, and had to fight her way through the other groups of students and their mates to get up to the bar. The pub was far more crowded that it usually was on a weeknight, and was also more jolly than it usually was when it got this crowded. Reggie didn't even mind having to wait at the bar to order their drinks, falling easily into a conversation with a bloke she vaguely recognised from Joanie's college.

 

 Reggie had finally shouted her order over the noise a group of fucking _business students_ were making when Joanie swept in. Well, she slipped through the doors as quietly as she always did, but the reaction was like she had made much more of an entrance.

 

 Brian and Veronica whooped loudly while Karen stuck two fingers in her mouth to give the kind of ear splitting whistle that you only heard at football matches. Freddie, who had far more class than the whole lot of them, jumped to his feet and escorted Joanie over to their table like she was the Queen.

 

"What will you have to drink my dear _do not say you'll buy it yourself! So help me, Joan!"_

 

 Joanie flashed Freddie a cheeky smile before accepting another round of hugs. She had changed into a lighter dress than she had been wearing this morning and had plaited her hair back, and Reggie found her eyes drawn to the long line of her throat that was faintly glistening with the sweat from a long summer evening.

 

 Joanie fiddled with the end of her plait as her grey eyes flicked over to Reggie in a way that made her lean a little more languidly against the bar, raising an eyebrow when Joanie's gaze finally met hers. This was how Reggie used to pick up girls, catch the ones glancing at you and making it clear you wanted them to take another look. What usually happened was the girl would get adorably flustered before making their way over, but all Joanie had to do was flash her slow, gapped-toothed smile at Reggie and she found that she was the one getting flustered and making her way over to Joanie.

 

"Hello you," Joanie said, running her hand slowly down Reggie's arm. "You look very nice."

 

"Thank you," Reggie smiled, briefly touching Joanie's waist before she was dispatched back to the bar to get Joanie her drink.

 

 It wasn’t the wildest evening they’d ever had, but Reggie was having a great time all the same. She had tucked herself in the back of the little nook they had taken over mostly so she couldn't be talked into making another trip to the bar, and also so she could covertly finish all the free gin and tonic’s Joanie kept being given. She smoked lazily as she chatted and laughed, sparing a smile or two for some of the blokes from Joanie’s degree who came up to have a talk. Occasionally, when Freddie or Karen were regaling them with a half made up tale, or they were all listening with rapt attention to one of Veronica's catholic school stories, Reggie would reach out to run her fingertips over the back of Joanie’s shoulder. It went ignored by everyone, of course, and feeling emboldened by the gin she then moulded her palm over the smooth skin at the top of Joanie’s spine.

 

 Joanie pushed back against Reggie’s hand so she let her fingers slip below the neckline of her dress, trailing them over her shoulder blade before she moved her hand to rest on Joanie’s back, smoothing softly over the linen of her dress.

 

“Karen’s sniffed out a good place to go dancing after this, if you want?” Reggie asked as she sat back in her chair, letting her eyes trail over Joanie’s profile and the way the delicate hoops of her earrings sat against the curve of her jaw.

 

“No, I’m a bit too tired for that.”

 

“You've had a busy day,” Reggie agreed laying her arm over the back of Joanie’s chair when she flopped back so they were both leaning away from the table. "Did Jamie like Wembley?"

 

"A lot. He acted like we'd just won the world cup again. It was very sweet."

 

"That's good."

 

"I was glad I could take him. And he liked our flat too."

 

"Our...oh?"

 

“Mum wanted to see where I lived before she left. I didn't feel like I could put her off…I got changed so she couldn't snoop around our bedroom too much."

 

 Reggie thought of the shoe box of sex toys tucked not very covertly into the top shelf of their wardrobe and took a deep drag of her cigarette to try and hide her blush. "What did she think of it?"

 

“She said east facing basement rooms get very damp and cold in the winter.”

 

“They do,” Reggie agreed, thinking of the ice that sometimes formed on the inside of the window at night, and how she used to lie in bed shivering while clinging to a hot water bottle before she had Joanie's body heat to warm her.

 

“So she’s going to send us down a quilt.”

 

"Really?" Reggie asked as Brian burst out into nervous laughter at something Karen said.

 

"She uhh…" Joane smoothed her hands over her knees. "She said that if she knew I had a _home_ down here _,_ then she'd have sent a housewarming gift when I moved in."

 

 Reggie blinked at Joanie, then took such a large gulp of gin and tonic that the bubbles almost went up her nose. "I think -  when I hugged you earlier I think she worked it out," Reggie said under her breath, taking a drag on her cigarette as she glanced a little nervously at Joanie.

 

 She gave Reggie an almost benevolent smile and touched her leg under the table. "I know. It's fine...or it will be fine. We're not overly close, but that's just because of her having to bring Jamie and myself up on her own. But she said she just wants me happy, and I obviously am, so...so she's prepared to get used to it."

 

 Reggie patted Joanie's hand and stubbed out her cigarette. "Well we both agree on wanting you to be happy. So that's a start."

 

 Joanie ran her hand over her plait as she sat forward and sipped her drink. "Everything’s going to be addressed for the both of us now, and we’ll both be invited up for holidays and stuff. She's going to treat us like we're married."

 

 Before Reggie could react Brian gasped, "Married! What?"

 

 Which had Karen squawking, "What!"

 

"Really Reg, proposing in a pub!" Freddie teased. "The poor girl's only just graduated. Let her live her life first!"

 

"I was just saying that my…"  Joanie started, but that was when a visibly tipsy Veronica leant across the table to grasp both their hands.

 

"If you need a church, I know a priest who'll bless _anything_."

 

 

* ***** *

 

 She was deep in Joanie, as deep as Joanie could take her. Deep enough that the base of the strap on was pressing against Reggie's clit with every slow roll of her hips.

 

 Joanie let out a hiccuping breath as she pushed her head back into the pillow. Her breasts were littered with marks from Reggie's earlier attentions, and she dipped her head to catch one of Joanie’s nipples between her teeth to give it a gentle tug.

 

 Joanie gasped as she jolted, pushing herself off Reggie's strap enough that Reggie had to grab her hips and pull her back down onto it. " _Fuuuck,"_ Joanie whined, digging the nails of one hand into Reggie's rib cage as she tried to push her sweat soaked hair off her forehead.

 

 They'd been at it for a while now, and for most of that time Reggie had been slowly rolling her hips into Joanie who was sweating and trembling, looking absolutely beautiful pressed into the rumpled sheets. She had just started to make the most desperate sounds, was beginning to squirm, but Reggie wasn't going to change what she was doing. Joanie knew that all she had to do was ask and Reggie would fuck her any why she liked, but she hadn't and Reggie was content just to grind into her while getting them both off.

 

 Reggie pressed her face into Joanie's neck, breathing in deep of the smell of sex and the lingering notes of her perfume, before moving to lick into Joanie's waiting mouth.

 

"Christ _Reg,"_ Joanie gasped against her lips, running her hands through Reggie's hair to pull it all off her face. "I'm going to be so sore tomorrow, and I won't be able to stop thinking of you fucking me."

 

"I'll be here to kiss it better," Reggie grinned, flicking her tongue over Joanie's bottom lip before sucking it into her mouth. She actually thrust into Joanie then, and laughed when she got a heel to the side in protest.

 

 Reggie curled her arms around Joanie's head as they traded lazy kisses, Joanie cupping Reggie’s face in one hand while she traced elegant patterns between her shoulders with the other. They rocked together slowly, languidly, the world fading away until it was just the other person; the touch of her skin, the sound of her breath, the smell of her sweat.

 

“Would you marry me, if we could?” Reggie heard herself asking out of nowhere. She blinked at herself, wondering if she had even spoken aloud when Joanie tipped her head back into the pillow with a sigh.

 

“Are you asking me that now?” Joanie laughed, tilting her hips before rolling her head to the side to look at Reggie.

 

“Apparently yes.”

 

 Joanie smiled softly and pulled Reggie's arms from around her head to move her hands down to Joanie's hips. Reggie squeezed, getting her knee's under her for what was coming as Joanie adjusted her legs around Reggie. “In a heartbeat,” he breathed, wrapping her long arms back around Reggie’s shoulders. “Now fuck me like you mean it. Please.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> There's a ref here from a thing someone sent me on my writing blog, I hope they catch it!
> 
> Brit Note  
> \- A Prep School is a very, very posh, fee paying, primary school (age 4-11, sometimes 13).  
> \- referring to someone as 'Our', like 'our Joanie', is a Nothern English way of affectionately referring to someone you're talking about who isn't part of the conversation.  
> -Mortarboard is a graduation cap? Or something. We be old school in our namings.
> 
> Joanie's mum being against pub is based on a story from one of John's school friends about her refusing to let him play a gig his school band (he was 15 at the time) had been booked for in a pub.
> 
> Also Veronica! I put her in just cause of [this thing](https://pianowrites.tumblr.com/post/184422121270/im-obsessed-with-joanie-and-reggie-im-just) I did on my writing blog


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